The Issue Of Palestinian Incitement Are A Matter Of Israeli Security And Must Be Addressed During These Peace Talks

On the issue of incitement, Abbas accepted that there was some incitement in official Palestinian media, according to meeting participants. However, he expressed frustration that Israel did not recognize his efforts to end incitement in the mosques, saying he was the only Arab leader to centralize Friday sermons and to remove imams who incited against Israel.
Jerusalem Post, June 10, 2010

With the resumption of direct talks between Abbas and Netanyahu, Elliot Abrams writes that there is a need to go Back to Basics on Israel's Security Needs--and among the security needs that need to be addressed is the issue of incitement:

This issue, what we've come to call "incitement," is not trivial or marginal. To use a historical analogy, England and France didn't make peace with Germany at the end of World War I because that was a Germany with which only a false peace could be made. Only after the changes in German society after World War II could a real and lasting peace be made. The same was true for the United States and Japan. In the case of Israel and the Palestinians, the location of the border and what is on the other side of that border are equally important.

It is a phony argument to claim that this is an attempt to impose American political institutions on the Palestinians, or that it is a demand that perfect democracy must arise in the Palestinian territories before any negotiation is possible. That is a caricature. All that President Bush said was that the Palestinians needed institutions of statehood that carry on a serious political and ideological struggle against extremism and terrorism, not any particular constitution or basic law, but a decent political system where the terrorists and their supporters are not in control; where those who are in charge of education policy are not nursing ancient hatreds. And in some of these areas there has been progress, but Israel should not back away from the incitement issue because it is a security issue.

Read the whole thing.

The issue of incitement is not an abstract one, seeing as it continues in the West Bank. Abbas needs to be held accountable for its continuation, and it is as important an issue to be brought up at the talks as any that Abbas himself will mention.

Palestinian Media Watch released a 22-page report about systematic incitement of hatred against Israel by the Palestinian Authority during June, noting that

Contrary to the Palestinian Authority's moderate statements to the West, its statements to its people in Arabic continue to delegitimize Israel's existence, deny Israel's right to exist, define the conflict with Israel as a religious war for Allah, promote hatred through demonization, slander and libel, and glorify terror and violence:

• The PA continues to teach on PA educational TV that Israeli cities across the entire country, including Jaffa and Haifa, are Palestinian cities.
• The official media deny Israel's right to exist by using terminology to refer to Israel as "the homeland occupied in '48."
• The conflict with Israel is defined by PA-appointed political and religious leaders not as territorial but as Ribat -- a religious war for Allah.
• The PA senior religious leader demonizes Jews as the "enemies of God."
• PA TV host: "The Jews are our enemies, right?"
• The PA continues to honor terrorists.
• PA-Fatah leader defends "the right to return to the armed conflict."
• PA-Fatah leader explains negotiations as "a tactical decision, i.e., a temporary, defensive decision."

Here is the complete report:




Negotiations are supposed to require give and take by both parties.
That should include Abbas.

Technorati Tag: Abbas and Mideast Peace Talks.